Ismail ibn Kathir (Arabic: ابن كثير‎, born c. 1300, died 1373) was a highly influential Sunni scholar of the Shafi'i school during the Mamluk rule of Syria, an expert on tafsir (Quranic exegesis) and faqīh (jurisprudence) as well as a historian.

His full name was Abū l-Fidāʾ Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar ibn Kaṯīr ( ‏أبو الفداء إسماعيل بن عمر بن كثير), with the honorary title of ʿImād ad-Dīn ‏ عماد الدين "pillar of the faith". He was born in Mijdal, a village on the outskirts of the city of Busra, to the east of Damascus, Syria, in the about AH 701 (AD 1300/1)[citation needed]. He was taught by Ibn Taymiyya and Al-Dhahabi.

Upon completion of his studies he obtained his first official appointment in 1341, when he joined an inquisitorial commission formed to determine certain questions of heresy.[citation needed] He married the daughter of Al-Mizzi, one of the foremost Syrian scholars of the period, which gave him access to the scholarly elite. In 1345 he was made preacher (khatib) at a newly-built mosque in Mizza, the home town of his father-in-law. In 1366, he rose to a professorial position at the Great Mosque of Damascus.[2]

In later life, he became blind.[2] He attributes his blindness to working late at night on the Musnad of Ahmad Ibn Hanbal in an attempt to rearrange it topically rather than by narrator. He died in February 1373 (AH 774) in Damascus.

Ibn Kathir wrote a famous commentary on the Qur'an named Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Adhim which linked certain Hadith, or sayings of Muhammad, and sayings of the sahaba to verses of the Qur'an, in explanation. It is considered to be a summary of the earlier tafsir by al-Tabari, Tafsir al-Tabari. It is especially popular because it uses the hadith to explain each verse and chapter of the Qur'an.

At-Takmil fi Ma`rifat Ath-Thiqat wa Ad-Du'afa wal Majdhil which Ibn Kathir collected from the books of his two Shaykhs Al-Mizzi and Adh-Dhahabi; Al-Kamal and Mizan Al-Ftiddl. He added several benefits regarding the subject of Al-Jarh and At-Ta'dil.

Ibn Kathir wrote references for the Ahadith of Adillat At-Tanbih, from the Shafi'i school of Fiqh.

Ibn Kathir's Al-Bidāya wa-n-nihāya (‏البداية والنهاية) "the beginning and the end" is one of the best-known works of Islamic historiography. While it covers "universal" history, from the creation of the world until the end of the world and Islamic eschatology. It contained the stories of the Prophets and previous nations, the Prophet's Seerah (life story) and Islamic history until his time. He also added a book Al-Fitan, about the Signs of the Last Hour. Its primary value is in the details of the politics of Ibn Kathir's own day. It has been edited several times, first in Cairo during 1932–1939.

Al-ijtihād fī ṭalab al-jihād ( ‏ الاجتهاد في طلب الجهاد), written by commission of the Mamluk governor of Damascus, is a defense of armed jihad and ribat against the neighboring Christian powers (remnants of the crusader states, such as the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia) based on the evidence of the Qur'an and the Sunna.

Al-Hadi was-Sunan ft Ahadith Al-Masanid was-Sunan which is also known by, Jami` Al-Masanid. In this book, Ibn Kathir collected the narrations of Imams Ahmad bin Hanbal, Al-Bazzar, Abu Ya'la Al-Mawsili, Ibn Abi Shaybah and from the six collections of Hadith: the Two Sahihs [(Al-Bukhari and Muslim) and the Four Sunan [Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasai and Ibn Majah]. Ibn Kathir divided this book according to areas of Fiqh. Tabaqat Ash-Shafi'iyah (The levels of the Shafi'i scholars) Ibn Kathir began an explanation of Sahih Al-Bukhari, but he did not finish it. He started writing a large volume on the Ahkam (Laws), but finished only up to the Hajj rituals. He also summarized Al-Baihaqi's 'Al-Madkhal. Many of these books were not printed.

Norman Calder, 'Tafsir from Tabari to Ibn Kathir, Problems in the description of a genre, illustrated with reference to the story of Abraham', in: G. R. Hawting / Abdul-Kader A. Shareef (eds.): Approaches to the Qur'an, London 1993, pp. 101–140.

Jane Dammen-McAuliffe, 'Quranic Hermeneutics, The views of al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir', in: Andrew Rippin (ed.): Approaches to the history of the interpretation of the Qur'an, Oxford 1988, pp. 46–62.